L.A teachers protest job cut get aressted

Sat, 16 May 2009 09:48:22 GMT

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=94929&sectionid=3510203

Dozens of teachers and a union leader have been arrested in Los Angeles as educators took to the streets to protest looming job cuts.

At least 46 teachers and union president AJ Duffy were arrested after staging a demonstration outside the Los Angeles Unified School District's headquarters in the city's downtown neighborhood.

"We're being arrested to send a message to the district and the city that they have the money ... parents are going to be upset when they go to school next year and classrooms are 50 and 60 kids," Duffy said as he was led away.

Protesters were detained for blocking a public street, Los Angeles Police Department Officer April Harding said.

The protests were held after the Los Angeles school board approved last month to lay off over 2,400 teachers and 2,000 other personnel in an attempt to cope with a $596 million budget deficit for the forthcoming school year.

The United Teachers Los Angeles union, which represents over 48,000 school instructors and workers, wants the district officials to spend the stimulus fund to save teachers and educators' posts- - a demand ruled out by the school district officials.

Lydia Ramos, spokesperson for the Los Angeles Unified School District, noted on Friday, "If we were to use all the money this year, sure, we might save a couple more jobs but we would have that many more jobs that we couldn't save next year. What we are looking at is the larger picture, the union is only looking at today."

Meanwhile, teachers slammed the layoffs, saying it would only create crammed inefficient classrooms.

"We tell our students this isn't about money. It's about their little brothers and sisters who are going to be sitting in classrooms with 40 other students," a teacher objected, "If the district doesn't listen, we're going to lose a whole generation of teachers."

On Thursday, California proposed to cut school year by as many as seven days as the golden state struggles to last the economic firestorm by introducing budget cuts.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger laid out plans to reduce public services and cut federal budget for the once prosperous state, calling for new layoffs and imminent raids on the coffers of local governments.